Pellet implant gun

ABSTRACT

A pellet implant gun having a cartridge holder adapted to receive a cartridge having a plurality of pellets in pellet cavities thereof. Each pellet cavity can be aligned in turn with an injection needle and the pellet implant gun actuated to move the pellet through the needle into an animal into which the needle has been inserted.

United States Patent 1 Nov. 27, 1973 Schmitz [54] PELLET IMPLANT GUN 32,619 6/ 1861 Cutler et al. 124/48 UX 2 001 9198 Cd', ..1227 [75] Inventor: Frederick William schmitz Term 3 232 712 -9/1928 Eil rihzmd 1232i? Haute, Ind. [73] Assignee: Commercial Solvents Corporation, FOREIGN PATENTS 9 APPLICATIONS Terra Haute 228,022 4/1960 Australia l28/..17

[22] Filed: 1971 Primary Examiner-Richard A. Gaudet [21] Appl. No.: 201,116 Assistant Examiner-J. C. McGowan Attorney John W. Behringer et a1.

[52] US. Cl. 128/217, 128/264 [51] Int. Cl. A6lm 5/18, A61m 31/00 [57] ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search l28llgl7lis2644s; A pellet implant g having a cartridge holder adapted to receive a cartridge having a plurality of pellets in pellet cavities thereof. Each pellet cavity can [56] I References Clted be aligned in turn with an injection needle and the pel- UNITED STATES PATENTS let implant gun actuated to move the pellet through 3,520,299 7/1970 Lott et a1 128/217 the needle into an animal into which the needle has 2,502,909 4/1950 Wick 612 a]. 128/217 been inserted 2,625,927 l/l953 Rosenbloom 124/48 2,601,852 7/1952 Wendt 128/264 2 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures Patented Nov. 27, 1973 2 Sheets-Shoat 1 Patented Nov. 27, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F IG. 4.

I A I p V" O PELLET IMPLANT GUN FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to a pellet implant gun especially suitable for use in implanting anabolic or other medicinal pellets under the skin of domestic animals. There are numerous pellet implant guns currently on the market and the gun illustrated in the U.S. Pat. of H. R. Eisenhand, No. 3,402,712 is illustrative of this group.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is the provision in a pellet implant gun of a magazine-type cartridge containing the pellets, allowing the implant of, in the model illustrated, pellets in 24 successive animals, without replacement of the cartridge, and successive implants in similar groups of animals after a quite easy and rapid exchange of cartridges. The pellets are held securely in the cartridges both while in the gun and while in the operators hand or pocket awaiting being put into the gun.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be further described with reference to the attached drawings wherein;

FIG. 1 is a side perspective of the pellet implant gun with the cartridge in place;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the pellet gun showing the angular inclination of the cartridge holder and the body of the gun;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the gun in the position shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the gun partially in section and generally taken along lines 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a front section view on lines 5-5 of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side section view on lines 66, not a true diameter, of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a partial section. view on lines 77 of FIG. 6, and;

FIG. 8 is a partial section view on lines 88 of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The major components of the cartridge implant gun 10 are a body portion 11, a grip portion 12, a trigger member 13, a pellet cartridge 14, a cartridge holder 15, and a needle 16.

Within the body 1 l, is a plunger 20, which in its withdrawn position is wholly within the body 11 and in its extended position as shown in FIG. 4 extends the length of the needle 16. The plunger is controlled by operating lever 21 and plunger link 22. The operating lever is restrained by biasing spring 23 and is controlled by trigger link 24 connected to the trigger portion 13 which rotates around trigger pivot 26 causing the operating lever 21 to rotate about lever pivot thus controlling the position of plunger 20. The structure and operation of these mechanisms will not be further described as this portion of the implant gun is conventional.

Attached to the front of body portion 11 is the cartridge holder 15. The cartridge holder includes a front plate 31 and a threaded knob 32 having a bore or pellet conveying conduit axially aligned with the line of travel of the plunger 20. The needle 16 fits within the bore 33 and is held in place by threaded cap 34.

The cartridge holder also includes a rear plate 35 which contains a convenient means for mounting it to body portion 11 such as for instance a mounting cylinder 36 which may fit within the skin portion of body portion 11 and be attached by any convenient means. The rear plate may also conveniently contain a plunger guide 37 to hold the forward end of the plunger in its withdrawn position and to guide the plunger during its extension.

The rear plate may also have parallel cut out portions leaving a deformable section 38 of the plate containing a finger hold 39 and a cartridge bearing aperture 40.

The cartridge holder also has a left cover 41, a magazine spring pawl 42, and a right cover 43, thus leaving exposed the line of travel of the plunger 20 so that the operator during use can observe whether a cylinder of the cartridge is directly aligned and whether that cylinder contains pellets.

The pellet cartridge 14 is made of 3 pieces of molded plastic, a front plate 50, a magazine 60, and a rear plate 70.

The front plate 50 of the pellet cartridge includes a face flange 51 having apertures 52 which correspond to the magazine bores to be described. Each of the apertures has flexible fingers 53 which hold the pellet or pellets within the magazine until expelled therefrom by the plunger 20.

The front plate also has a tubular section 54 having an outer surface 55 which serves as a bearing surface for the magazine 60. The inner surface of tubular section 54 is a bearing surface 56 for the rear plate interrupted by spaced camming bevels 57.

The magazine 60 has an inner bore 61 which slides onto outer surface 55 of the front plate, and may also contain suitable locking lugs which, for clarity, are not shown on the drawings. The magazine also contains pellet cylinders 62 of which there are 24 on the magazine as disclosed. The rear section of the cylinder may have a slightly enlarged section 63 to guide the plunger through the cylinder and correct any minor misalignment of the magazine. The cylinder should also have an indent 64 associated with each cylinder to allow the initial registration of the magazine as hereinafter described.

The rear plate of the cartridge contains a rear flange 71 having apertures 72 which correspond to the cylinders of magazine 60. In each of the apertures are flexible fingers 73 to restrain the pellets. The rear plate contains an inner web 77 which is offset providing a bearing surface 74 cooperating with the bearing surface 56 of the front plate and interspersed with the bearing surface, locking fingers 75 cooperating with the camming bevels 57. At the inner end of the web is journal 76 which fits into the cartridge bearing aperture or bore 40.

OPERATION OF CARTRIDGE IMPLANT GUN To operate the cartridge implant gun, the operator selects a cartridge containing the proper pellets for the animals to be treated. A major advantage of this invention is that theoperator may rapidly change the cartridges if different animals are to be treated with different pellets. I

The operator bends back the flexible portion 38 of the rear plate 35 by inserting his finger in the finger hold 39. With the plate bent back he may then insert the pellet cartridge 14 and then release the flexible plate allowing the bearing 40 to hold the cartridge jour nal and the cartridge in position.

The operator then indexes the plate, the magazine spring pawl 42 indicating when the magazine cylinder is in register with the plunger and the bore or pellet conveying conduit in front of the cartridge. The operator may visually ascertain that the cylinder contains a pellet by viewing that cylinder through the aperture between the left cover 41 and the right cover 43.

The operator then inserts the needle into the animal to be treated and squeezes the trigger. The plunger passes through the cylinder, pushing the pellet or pellets through the bore and ultimately through the needle and into the animal. The needle may then be withdrawn before or after retracting the plunger. It will occasionally be desirable to insert pellets from successive cylinders in the same animal which can easily be done with this gun.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, the cartridge 15 is offset from the center line of the body of the gun. The offset, as shown, is adapted to a right handed user since he can observe the needle along the left side of the gun without the cartridge holder obstructing his view.

The cartridge implant gun and the pellet cartridge disclosed in this application have the further advantage of allowing pellets of varying sizes and numbers to be used with the same gun. The cylinder as disclosed will ordinarily accommodate from one to three cylindrical pellets but can accommodate other shapes such as spherical pellets. Likewise, the cylinder will accommodate a single smaller pellet thus affording considerable flexibility in use.

The foregoing is a description of the preferred embodiment of the invention as required by law. Other modifications of the described embodiment which fall within the invention as disclosed will be apparent to those having skill in the art.

Having disclosed my invention, I claim:

1. A pellet implant gun, for implanting pellets into domestic animals, comprising in combination:

a. a body member;

b. a trigger rotatably attached to said body member;

c. first spring means connected to said trigger and said body member to bias said trigger in a first trigger position relative to said body member while permitting rotation of said trigger to a second trigger position relative to said body member;

d. a plunger having a leading edge and mounted within said body member for reciprocating movement between a first plunger position in which said leading edge is withdrawn within said body member and a second plunger position in which said leading edge is extended from said body member;

e. lever means coupling said trigger and said plunger for holding said plunger in the first plunger position when said trigger is in the first trigger position and for moving said plunger to the second plunger position when said trigger is moved to the second trigger position against the bias of said first spring means;

f. a cartridge holder connected to said body member and having l a cartridge receiving cavity adapted to receive a cartridge and to allow rotational movement thereof, (2) an aperture bearing for rotatably holding a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (3) a positioning detent for angularly positioning a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (4) second spring means for biasing said positioning detent into contact with a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, and (5) means defining a pellet conveying conduit aligned with said plunger;

g. a hollow injection needle mounted on said cartridge holder and aligned with said pellet conveying conduit; and

h. a generally circular, removable multi-pellet cartridge rotatably mounted within said cartridge holder and including a plurality of angularly spaced pellet cylinders, each pellet cylinder having a first end, a second end, and flexible pellet restraining means at its first end and its second end, said cartridge further including rotatable journal means cooperating with said cartridge holder aperture bearing for rotatably holding said cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity while permitting rotation of said cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity to pass each pellet cylinder in turn into alignment with said plunger and said conduit, said cartridge further including a plurality of indents, one indent associated with each pellet cylinder, said indents cooperating with said cartridge holder positioning detent to cause alignment of the associated pellet cylinder with said plunger and said conduit when said positioning detent is within an indent to permit, in response to rotation of said trigger from the first trigger position to the second trigger position, movement of said plunger from the first plunger position to the second plunger position with the plunger leading edge passing from within said body member through the aligned pellet cylinder and said conduit to within said hollow injection needle;

whereby with the pellet implant gun inserted into an animal and with a pellet within the aligned pellet cylinder, rotation of the trigger from the first trigger position to the second trigger position results in implanting of the pellet into the animal.

2. A pellet implant gun, for implanting pellets into domestic animals, comprising in combination:

a. a body member;

b. a trigger rotatably attached to said body member;

0. first spring means connected to said trigger and said body member to bias said trigger in a first trigger position relative to said body member while permitting rotation of said trigger to a second trigger position relative to said body member;

(1. a plunger having a leading edge and mounted within said body member for reciprocating movement between a first plunger position in which said leading edge is withdrawn within said body member and a second plunger position in which said leading edge is extended from said body member;

e. lever means coupling said trigger and said plunger for holding said plunger in the first plunger position when said trigger is in the first trigger position and for moving said plunger to the second plunger position when said trigger is moved to the second trigger position against the bias of said first spring means;

f. a cartridge holder connected to said body member and having l) a cartridge receiving cavity adapted to receive a cartridge and to allow rotational movement thereof, (2) an aperture bearing for rotatably holding a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (3) a positioning detent for angularly positioning a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (4) second spring means for biasing said positioning detent into contact with a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, and (5) means defining a pellet conveying conduit aligned with said plunger; and

g. a hollow injection needle mounted on said carsults in implanting of the pellet into the animal.

,UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Patent No.

Inventor) Frederick William Schmitz It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the grant (only), insert the attached sheet Signed and sealed this 5rd day of September 197A.

(SEAL) Attest:

C. MARSHALL DANN B 0' JR. MCCOY M GI S Commissioner of Pa Attesting Officer FORM PO-105O (ID-69) USCOMM-DC GOING-P69 w u.s. GOVERNMENT rnnmus OFFICE nu macs-s34,

, Terra Haute, Ind.

221 Filed: I Nov. 22,1971 21 Appl.No.:201,116'

[52] US. Cl. 128/217, 128/264 United States Patent 1 1 PAGE 2 1111 3,774,607 Schmitz 1 1 Nov. 27, 1973 PELLET IMPLANT GUN 32,619 6/1861 Cutler et al. 124 42 ux 2,859,013 9 1951; 01111152.... 128/217 [75] schmiliTem 3.402.712 9 1963 Eisenhand ..12s 217 [73] Assignee: Commercial Solvents Corporation, FOREIGN PATENTS 9R APruCATlONS 228.022 4/1960 Australia 128/217 Primary ExaminerRichard A. Gaudet Assistant Examiner-J. C. McGowan Attorney-John W. Behringer et al.

57 1 ABSTRACT been inserted.

2 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 

1. A pellet implant gun, for implanting pellets into domestic animals, comprising in combination: a. a body member; b. a trigger rotatably attached to said body member; c. first spring means connected to said trigger and said body member to bias said trigger in a first trigger position relative to said body member while permitting rotation of said trigger to a second trigger position relative to said body member; d. a plunger having a leading edge and mounted within said body member for reciprocating movement between a first plunger position in which said leading edge is withdrawn within said body member and a second plunger position in which said leading edge is extended from said body member; e. lever means coupling said trigger and said plunger for holding said plunger in the first plunger position when said trigger is in the first trigger position and for moving said plunger to the second plunger position when said trigger is moved to the second trigger position against the bias of said first spring means; f. a cartridge holder connected to said body member and having (1) a cartridge receiving cavity adapted to receive a cartridge and to allow rotational movement thereof, (2) an aperture bearing for rotatably holding a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (3) a positioning detent for angularly positioning a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (4) second spring means for biasing said positioning detent into contact with a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, and (5) means defining a pellet conveying conduit aligned with said plunger; g. a hollow injection needle mounted on said cartridge holder and aligned with said pellet conveying conduit; and h. a generally circular, removable multi-pellet cartridge rotatably mounted within said cartridge holder and including a plurality of angularly spaced pellet cylinders, each pellet cylinder having a first end, a second end, and flexible pellet restraining means at its first end and its second end, said cartridge further including rotatable journal means cooperating with said cartridge holder aperture bearing for rotatably holding said cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity while permitting rotation of said cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity to pass each pellet cylinder in turn into alignment with said plunger and said conduit, said cartridge further including a plurality of indents, one indent associated with each pellet cylinder, said indents cooperating with said cartridge holder positioning detent to cause alignment of the associated pellet cylinder with said plunger and said conduit when said positioning detent is within an indent to permit, in response to rotation of said trigger from the first trigger position to the second Trigger position, movement of said plunger from the first plunger position to the second plunger position with the plunger leading edge passing from within said body member through the aligned pellet cylinder and said conduit to within said hollow injection needle; whereby with the pellet implant gun inserted into an animal and with a pellet within the aligned pellet cylinder, rotation of the trigger from the first trigger position to the second trigger position results in implanting of the pellet into the animal.
 2. A pellet implant gun, for implanting pellets into domestic animals, comprising in combination: a. a body member; b. a trigger rotatably attached to said body member; c. first spring means connected to said trigger and said body member to bias said trigger in a first trigger position relative to said body member while permitting rotation of said trigger to a second trigger position relative to said body member; d. a plunger having a leading edge and mounted within said body member for reciprocating movement between a first plunger position in which said leading edge is withdrawn within said body member and a second plunger position in which said leading edge is extended from said body member; e. lever means coupling said trigger and said plunger for holding said plunger in the first plunger position when said trigger is in the first trigger position and for moving said plunger to the second plunger position when said trigger is moved to the second trigger position against the bias of said first spring means; f. a cartridge holder connected to said body member and having (1) a cartridge receiving cavity adapted to receive a cartridge and to allow rotational movement thereof, (2) an aperture bearing for rotatably holding a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (3) a positioning detent for angularly positioning a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (4) second spring means for biasing said positioning detent into contact with a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, and (5) means defining a pellet conveying conduit aligned with said plunger; and g. a hollow injection needle mounted on said cartridge holder and aligned with said pellet conveying conduit; whereby with the pellet implant gun inserted into an animal and with a pellet within a cartridge in said cartridge holder and aligned with said plunger and said conduit, rotation of the trigger from the first trigger position to the second trigger position results in implanting of the pellet into the animal. 